Phenomenal!!! I'm beyond impressed. Glad it turned out so good.

Thanks for sharing!

Amazing J. The last two pics are the great payoff -- perhaps the most incredible thing I've ever seen in the BBQ world. I'd say it was a towering success. Congrats and thanks again for keeping us updated throughout the adventure.

Lovely. Very, very nice.

And whatever is that in the WSM tower pic...? Blue sky...? In Buffalo?

Don, Gary, Kevin, thanks!

quote:

And whatever is that in the WSM tower pic...? Blue sky...? In Buffalo? Smiler

Actually, my parents spent March near Tampa and they kept calling to complain that home was warmer than were they were.

I'm thinking this thread won't end for a few more days as I plan to use up the left overs as imaginatively as possible. I have a few ideas, but I'm open to suggestions.

this morning's breakfast:

Leftover fried potato casserole, egg and cheese omelette, fried sliced ham

I had one nice piece left for slicing on my hobart.

You mean it gets better? The gift that keeps on giving...

really impressive J

Holy Cow, ehem Pig! That is amazing Next time you do a hamonster, I'm coming over!

quote:

You mean it gets better? The gift that keeps on giving...

it is my spring break you know what they say about idle hands?

quote:

Next time you do a hamonster, I'm coming over!

I think making a 20 pound ham might be a little bit like child birth, as of now I don't really want to do another, but in 11 months I'll probably think its a great idea.

quote:

It looks like the handle fell off your battle-axe in the second-to-last picture. I don't know what that thing is, or what it is used for, but I want one!

its an Alaskan ulu. My wife wanted it and my inlaws were nice enough to find us a cool one and bring it back for us. The handle and base is caribou antler, the blade is similar to forschner (shiny, stamped stainless). It works great for mincing herbs and skinning polar bears. I'm worried that I wont be able to sharpen it on my apex because of the handle.

quote:

Originally posted by j biesinger:

... My biggest concern is that the ham will be too salty, so I thought I was in good shape...

... So I made the call to dump the brine and soak it over night it fresh water. I'm hoping that salt will continue to migrate in towards the bone as well as out.

Good move jb. I didn't soak the traditional ham that I made enough, and it was extremely salty and even "burned" from the pink salt.

Nice job and excellent presentation.

I'll have to play catch-up and carve up the country ham that's hanging in my basement.

Jim

Great looking ham. Well done j.

I can see a sequel already. "Hamonster 2 - The Search For Porcine Perfection"

Cue the Indiana Jones theme !

J,
great job there. The finished product looks like it was all worth the effort. Thanks for posting pics of the process.

quote:

I'll have to play catch-up and carve up the country ham that's hanging in my basement.

Its not a zero sum game here, we all win!

I was thinking at the rock bottom price RD sells these for, I might try to get another ham and do what you did. I figured, worse case, I'm out 25 bucks. Best case, I made something that would most likely beat anything I could get locally.

btw, thanks to my excessive posting on this thread, my karma has moved up to "guru."

Wow!!! I just read the entire thread. Amazing job!!! Makes me want to try it.....maybe a smaller one though.

Well beyond my knowledge and capability. A tip of the old cap to you for a job well done.

quote:

maybe a smaller one though. Smiler

Today, I was just at RD and all their hams clocked in at just over 20 lbs. They are probably graded and the smaller ones get gobbled up by the big ham companies. What's available to the average joe, are the monsters that can't be quickly processed (just a guess).

You could probably do a similar thing with a picnic shoulder. They are typically a lot smaller.

quote:

Well beyond my knowledge and capability.

Honestly, if you can haul around an awkward 20 lb mass, that's about all the capability you need.

The consumption of hamonster continues:

bone soup:



I simmered the hock for a little over an hour and it made a great base for Cuban
black bean soup:



I roasted a hunk of pork loin and sliced it:



Which was paired with sliced ham, swiss cheese, pickles, mayo and mustard for my best attempt at the Cuban sandwich:



Honestly, we make these quite frequently and we all (6 to be precise) thought that these were the best ever.

I actually think I might be done with leftovers. I'm going to vac pack the sliced ham and pork and use it for a future batch of these sandwiches.

I'll probably make stock out of the big bone and see if the fat is still worth rendering. So no more eating but still work to be done.

Excellent thread JB! Thanks for the detailed posts. Thanks again for sharing the experience with all of us. Bookmarked! Lots of good references from other folks as well. That was a beauty! I can almost taste it from hear.

I am late for the party but that looks fantastic.

, simply amazing

inspiring! It's time to try something new.